Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ethiopia presents awards to cultural and arts professionals in Ethiopia
Lifetime Awardees
In July 2021, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ethiopia presented awards to cultural and arts professionals in Ethiopia. This is the first time in Ethiopian history when dance artists were recognized at the national level, on par with artists of other artistic disciplines. This recognition became reality as a result of Ethiopian Dance Art Association leaders’ advocacy at the level of the Ministry.
The award winning dance artists of 2021 are: Ethiopiawinet Dance Crew, Junaid Jemal Sendi, Shimelash Legass (lifetime award), Gezehegne Bereke (Lifetime award), and Yeshewas Negertu (Lifetime award)
They each received 100,000 birr to support their artistic pursuits.
EDAA leadership’s public statement regarding the award:
Ethiopian Dance Art Association is proud that for the first time in our nation’s history, dance and dance artists were formally acknowledged for their important contributions by the government. At the recent award ceremony held by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, EDAA was one of the 27 artistic associations represented. We are happy not because our work is perfect, or even finished, but because this was a historic moment, a new beginning. It is important to keep in mind that this award will be an annual tradition.
As a result of collaboration between Ethiopian Dance Art Association and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, some of our legend dancer artists and dance teachers were honored at the ceremony, and the young generation of dance artists were encouraged to keep up their good work.
To set up, fund, and select awards requires a lot of hard work and coordination. EDAA’s leadership team and the staff of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism made this happen within a short time frame. The EDAA team did this work while living our already busy lives. We did it as a service to our profession, our society. We give our time, our energy, our good vibes, just as how we give without reserve when we dance. If we work together and help each other, we will improve our process in the future.
Ethiopian Dance Art Association was established because we know the pain of not being valued by the very society that has sparked our interest in dance. Even getting EDAA registered as an organization with the government took a few years of struggle and hard work. The Association has been a voice for dancers at governmental and civil society forums. Now the government finally included dance when it honors artists of many disciplines. The process is not perfect, but we have taken a step towards our goals – to raise the status of dance and dancers in Ethiopia, and to make things easier for future generations of dance artists. We have a long way to go, but we can only get there if we work with each other.
This year we honored three legend artists and two young artists/groups. There are many more outstanding dance artists who deserve the award, of course. We want to give awards to all our masters in the countryside as well as the creatives in the cities. Our challenge in choosing awardees reveals how rich and dynamic the dance sector is.
Ethiopian dance is diverse, dynamic, and modern. We have a lot to give to the world. At the same time, we also have a lot to learn from the rest of the world. Once we find ways to work together amongst ourselves, great potentials exist for us to collaborate with international embassies and cultural institutions based in Ethiopia, as well as dance associations, schools, and companies in other countries.
But first we all have homework to do, as dancers, choreographers, dance critics and writers. We need to know ourselves first: Who are we? What are the purposes and meanings of our dance? Where is our dance now? Where is our dance going? Let’s begin the conversation and continue our work, with a spirit of collaboration.
